Audio

Bryan Cook, friend of the podcast and author of the new BA campaign book, is the guest on this episode. After being interrogated for a bit about ANZAC history, Bryan talked through the process of putting together a book to cover the Hungarian campaign in WWII. There is discussion of new missions, selectors, units and a historical overview (lots of content for late-war German and Soviet players, as well as the Hungarian and Romanians).

A stubborn episode that’s been trying to get out for some time! In the first half I talk through all of my games from the Bolt Action GT in Nottingham (lists, missions, slagging off opponents, etc), which took place in November, and in the second half I reflect on the best (and worst) hobby aspects of the last year.

Family circumstances have made podcasting a bit of an effort recently, as I explain on the recording.

Thanks once again to all the Patreon.com backers who sponsor the show!

Paras Assaulting an armoured car in my 3rd game – another is heading down the road in the background.

This recording covers our trip to CRISIS from the 2nd-4th of November 2018, during which we ran a large game depicting the Tavronitis Bridge battle on Crete in 1941, which some people may have seen featured in recent issues of Wargames Illustrated. I was joined by clubmates James Morris and Thomas Webster-Deakin. After the show we visited Ypres, which was poignant since we were there just ahead of the 100-year anniversary of the end of the Great War.

During the Saturday of the show I recorded short interviews with the organiser, Willie Bogaerts, as well as Richard Clark of TFL. There’s also plenty of chatter and moderate boozing during the game itself…

On the Sunday I recorded parts of our visit to Ypres, including a sobering and beautiful service at the Menin Gate where we heard a veteran choir and the daily rendition of The Last Post.

The end of the podcast has the latest prize draw for Patreon backers to win a £20 gift voucher courtesy of bossminis.co.uk – to whom I am once again thankful. I also thank new Patreon backers for their support. You can visit patreon.com/downorder if you wish to become a patron.

Richard Clarke is the guest on this episode and he talks in detail about the new early-war handbook for Chain of Command, Blitzkrieg 1940, which includes nearly 60 new force lists to use in the game, as well as campaign-specific special rules and a series of new national arsenals and characteristics. Richard is a very entertaining chap and there’s lots of interesting historical stuff, besides all the rules chatter.

To celebrate this being the 50th episode and as a ‘thank you’ for the continued support, Patreon backers (who voluntarily sponsor the show and get early access) will not be charged for this one. Any new backers will also be able to listen to this recording for FREE – so it’s a great time to sign up.

Dave Hunter returns to the podcast to delicately assist with this potentially divisive show topic: BA Vs CoC. The aim though is not really to decide which is the best game, but to compare and contrast the two leading systems for 28mm WWII wargames. Each has a very distinct ‘feel’ as a rules system and will provide a very different gaming experience.

We discuss key gaming principles, core rules mechanics, scale, time, force composition, etc – as well as looking at the best ways to approach each game in order to get the best out of it.

Contact Sam on the downorder.com Facebook page or follow @downorder on Twitter.

I was joined by Christian and Jan (from Hamburg) to discuss wargaming the Germans in WWII. They gave insight into the history, organisation and characteristics of the Wehrmacht, as well as helping to pronounce some of those tricky German words…

This episode also includes the £20 voucher draw for Patreon backers, courtesy of bossminis.co.uk – so listen until the end!

Last year’s winner, Mike Wilkins, and I talk about our 1000pt lists (Free French partisans and Italian Front Germans) used at the recent 78-player event in Cambridge – and then run through each of our games in detail.

I’d like to offer a continued ‘thank you’ to BOSS Minis and to the new Patreon backers, who are also thanked at the end of the show.

Bruce Hamilton comes on the cast once again, this time to talk about a North African Commando raid from 1941: there is the usual mix of history and gaming chat about how you could recreate elements of Operation Flipper for Bolt Action. Towards the end, we also talked a little about the upcoming Cambridge event that we’re both attending.

A review of the recent open event that took place at Warlord Games HQ in Nottingham, at the end of November 2018. The guest for this episode is Bruce Hamilton and we talked through our lists and described each of our games in detail before revealing the final standings…

This episode also features the prize draw for a winner of the £20 voucher from bossminis.co.uk – available to our $3 level Patreon backers. The winner is revealed at the end of the show.

In this episode I sat down to have a conversation with Nick Eyre of North Star (who produces the figures for Artizan Designs, Crusader Miniatures, Copplestone Castings, Frostgrave, etc). We talked about a range of things, including: the origins of the company and the history of wargaming in Nottingham; the sculpting and casting process; how advances in technology have changed the hobby and what we can expect to see from North Star in the future. I also subjected Nick to a series of listener questions…

After that, there is some listener correspondence and a reading about the 1939 German invasion of Poland.

(The image shown is not my own work – just an example of Artizan Designs’ fine British Airborne range that I scoured from Google)

Sam and Barry dig deep into the story of how Anglo-Canadian forces enacted the breakout from the eastern end of the Normandy beachhead.

We discuss important units involved in the conflict, such as the 7th Armoured Division, 21st Panzer and the 12th SS Hitlerjugend, as well as focusing in detail on a number of important vehicles engaged in the battle for the vital transport hub of Caen, such as the Panther and the Sherman Firefly. There are reviews of miniatures from Warlord Games and Mad Bob, as well as ideas that could be used to make games particularly appropriate for famous operations such as Epsom and Goodwood.

This episode should form the first part of a series of episodes looking at the Battle of Normandy.

Sam is joined by Dave Hunter, Christian Tiansen and Steve Tibbs, who all attended the latest Mediterranean themed team event at Sanctuary Gaming Centre. The first half and hour features a ‘live’ recording from the day, with players already stuck into their games in the three theatres: Crete, North Africa and Italy.

The last hour of the podcast is a conversation between Sam and Steve, discussing the recent Phoenix Gaming Club event – Operation Varsity, in which they both played.

Barry and Sam talk about the Partizan wargames show in Newark, discussing purchases and their relevance to current hobby projects (Congo, Sharp Practice, ancients, terrain for End of the Beginning III – don’t tell our wives…).

In the main segment we read out and discuss entries for the Dream Game competition in which listeners submitted ideas for their ‘dream’ Bolt Action scenario; at the end we choose a worthy winner to receive a copy of Armies of Germany 2nd Edition courtesy of Steve at 2d6Lodge. There’s also a return of the Quizzy Question and inexplicable Enya chat.

Sam, Steve and Bob recount the recent event in all its gory detail, from missions and tables to individual games and reflections on the V2 system in a large, open tournament. Expect Tiger Fear, Gurkhas, tank platoons and curiously lurid terrain placement…

Stick around for the end when Steve and Bob are challenged to a thrilling game of Play Your Tanks Right!

This episode features a conversation with Mad Bob Emmerson, discussing lists ahead of the big 2d6Lodge Cambridge event, with particular focus on the mighty French FT-17 tank. The main section contains recorded hightlights of a ‘live’ game between mid-war US and German forces – the latter built around a Tiger Tank. Barry and Sam get to grips with the Tiger Fear rules and there are historical and tactical segments littered throughout. Finally, Sam was joined by Scott the Boss to talk about some new Warlord releases and to make the prize draw for the winner of the Patreon backers’ £20 gift voucher.

Sam talks about a new listener competition to win a copy of Armies of Germany 2nd Edition and his ‘dream game’ set during the Battle of Crete, then connects with Barry through Skype for another round of TGtBatU – with Barry picking the WWII units to fit the categories.

This recording features Steve Tibbs as a guest and covers The Battle of Anzio during the Italian campaign as the historical topic (with thoughts on army lists, missions and modelling); event coverage; V2 chit-chat and some thoughts on the new AoG book. Plenty of Tiger talk when it comes to Anzio!

There’s also a 5% discount code for bossminis.co.uk that can be used until the new year and and a chance to win a £10 voucher, if you stick around till the end of the episode.

New backers of the Patreon campaign are thanked and a prize draw is made to determine the winner of a Rubicon Opel Blitz.

Sam talks through his SAS army list, giving a brief history of the SAS in the desert and a description of the new force characteristics and unit choices.

Playtesting the SAS, with Dave using a regular DAK force – this section contains a degree of grumbling about V2 changes and our feelings about their effect on general gameplay (RANT warning!). Please get in touch if you have a differing opinion about any of the issues!

Last is a slightly squiffy game of Operation, with Sam offering Dave with opportunity to repair his reputation as an accurate namer of WW2 events!

Patreon.com/downorder – sign up here to receive future podcasts early and to be in with a chance of winning a cracking prize.

Sam and Dave are joined by Ian Hill to talk through three large open events that have taken place over the last month: two of them seeing out the first version of BA; one ushering in the new 2nd edition. We also play a game of ‘Operation’ intermittently throughout the show! Some ripe language to be expected…

Sam, Dave and Pete discusses their experiences at the second Down Order team event run at Sanctuary Gaming Centre. Pete also describes his forthcoming event (Enigma) and Dave describes his new selectors for the Maori. There is also some Sharp Practice 2 chat, with particular reference to the French-Indian War.

Dave and Sam are joined by Andy Singleton of Volley Fire Painting Services to talk about the recent sixty player event held in Cambridge. Andy also talks about his background and current projects, while Dave describes some of the new lists he has been writing (Fallschirmjager, Maori and DAK) which are tailored to be more theatre-specific and historical than the selectors in the army books

Sam and Dave are joined by Mad Bob Emmerson to chat about current projects, including End of the Beginning 2, events on the south coast, Gorgon Studios and forthcoming offerings from Bob’s evil laboratory. Bob also undertook the Good/Bad/Ugly challenge and Philip from Germany provided us some authentic translations in his native tongue.

Sam is joined by Stuart Kelly (Stubert, of Cambridge) and Seamus Hamrin (Weekend General, outta Chicago). The two guests provided their take on Good/Bad/Ugly in Bolt Action and we also took a look at the new FAQ/Errata document from Warlord. Finally Sam gives an overview of the final release of the Theatre Book series; Duel in the Sun.

Rich, Sam and Dave tackle Gates of Antares, gender and diversity issues in wargaming, listener feedback and the BAA Format. The main feature for the episode is a listener suggestion – we take turns to choose a BA unit to fit within each of the three categories (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly…). There’s a good amount of Uber snarling from about the one hour mark onwards!

Sam, Rich and Dave answer a selection of listener questions about the future of the game and personal hobby projects for 2016. Sam and Rich also talk about the tournament they attended in Birmingham (To Hell and Back).

Thirteen listeners from around the world undertook the challenge: to describe their favourite WW2 vehicle in Bolt Action, in three minutes (ish). The winner, revealed at the end, will receive a mystery vehicle courtesy of Mad Bob Miniatures.

We are joined by Joe Piddington, the director of Miniature Wargaming The Movie, to discuss his Kickstarter project. We spoke about his ambitions for the film, the wider development of wargaming culture and his experiences in Bolt Action.

Sam and Dave are joined by Bob Emmerson and Bryan Cook to discuss the French presence in the North African theatre. Bryan describes MOAB, his event in Sydney and Dave talks about his Maori selectors. Tirailleurs, Goumiers and the Foreign Legion all get mentioned. Definitely something a bit Vichy going on in this episode…

Sam, Dave and Mad Bob discuss three recent events (Britcon, The Welsh Open and The Derby Nationals) with particular focus on missions, event packs and list balance. We also reveal the first Down Order listener competition…

An mp3 (no longer than 3 minutes) would be ideal, describing your favourite vehicle in Bolt Action. Our favourite entries will be played on a forthcoming podcast and the winner will receive a mystery 1/56 resin vehicle, courtesy of Mad Bob Miniatures. Entries close on November 30th. Obviously, please include your name and location in the e-mail.

We discuss the recent North Africa campaign day held at Sanctuary Gaming Centre. Sam and Dave were joined by Steve Tibbs from 2d6Lodge Gaming Club in Cambridge, who also played in the event. Steve tells us about his forthcoming tournament and explains how he went about writing a Royal Thai army list. Sam also gives an update on the story of the Churchill ‘Guildford’ and its commander, Bernard Hudson.

Sam and Dave are joined by Giac, joint TO of the BA Welsh Open. They discuss plans for the event (taking place at the end of September in Cardiff) before Dave quizzes Giac on his list of Ten Commonly Overlooked or Misunderstood Rules… Towards the end, Sam describes a family connection to a Churchill tank of the 4th Grenadier Guards BN.

(This picture shows Sgt. Bernard Hudson with his tank, Guildford, which was knocked out on the 30th of July 1944, near Caumont, in France.)

Rich, Sam and Dave discuss the recent two day event in Preston. Rich only joins us for the first hour, but Sam and Dave talk through their lists and games in detail. Talking points include: Brandenburgers, flamethrowers, the 1250 point level and mission-specific strategies. One list in particular drew a bit of attention, but all criticism is intended with good spirit (and a small degree of bitterness)!

Sam, Dave and Barry talk about the upcoming Down Order team event, taking place in August and also the recent Black Dragon tournament in Leicester. Dave and Sam then discuss the quirks of the British army book and Barry describes the Canadian contribution to the war.

Sam, Rich and Dave met at the farm to play a 2400 Vs 800 point game with the Soviets attacking the Finns. We talk through the historical context and then describe the game intermittently, between turns. See pictures of the game on the downorder.com Facebook page. There is also a UK tournament update.

Sam and Dave review the BHGS event which took place in Cranfield in April. Sam took early-war Soviets and Dave used his Maori. We also mention a selection of new UK events that have been announced for this year and beyond…

Dave and Sam were thrilled to be joined by Brad ‘Old Man’ Morin from the Ghost Army and LRDG podcasts. He talked us through his experiences on the Australian BA circuit and shared a Polish partisan list based on the Warsaw Uprising. Sam described the Lock & Load tournament and Dave recounted a four-player desert game in Cardiff.

We chat about the challenges of writing a viable Panzergrenadier list using the current rules. Dave talks Western Desert, Rich talks Soviet experimental tank lists, Sam talks US 29th and Point Defense and Barry talks Fury.

Dave’s vocals were plagued by a crunchy scraping menace for parts of the recording (which was revealed to be a cable in conflict with a jacket zip). This has hopefully now been banished…

Sam and Dave are joined are joined by Pete Melvin from the Phoenix Gaming Club. The main topic covers our considerations for attempting to assemble a historic, characterful and fun army. We also try to find a good balance between strength in theme and strength on the table. We chose three forces to discuss: the 28th Maori Battalion, the Italian Savoia Cavalleria and the US 29th Infantry.

Full crew. Our main topic is an overview of the campaign in North-West Europe and discussion of the missions, units and special rules described in the theatre book. Rich talks about his terrain projects and flirtations with Chain of Command, Dave assesses the latest Warlord FAQ and Sam mentions UK tournaments in 2015.

I am joined by Gary Betts (Gazerb on the Warlord forum) who runs the Bolt Action tournaments for the three big BHGS events in the UK. We talked about missions, tables and rules being used in 2015. Dave also dropped in part way through and we had a bit of a chat about what we’d been up to recently.

Barry and Sam play a game using Warplanes as well as testing the DOT NET Format rules tweaks from the guys at the BAR. I have no idea if an audio playtest recording works – let me know! There are pictures of the game on our Facebook page.

Our new theme music is from Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony, which was written and performed inside Leningrad during the siege.

The full cohort records together for the first time. We do listener feedback, talk about a few recent events, then dive into our lists of favourite tank destroyers from WWII. We discussed historical TD doctrine and also which vehicles we feel are good or bad choices in Bolt Action.

Sam, Barry and Dave seek out terrible truths hidden in the misty and horrifying labyrinth of the Nazi Occult. We also talk about unholy relics, ill-omened expeditions, frightening technology and other chilling prospects. At the end, Sam describes a home made, zombie-themed Bolt Action mission called The Book of the Dead.

The conclusion to our two-part episode. Rich and Dave talk through the tournament setup, their lists and their games. We mention Bob Emmerson and his highly successful Hungarian Tanks Kickstarter. We also answer and discuss the Quizzy Question asked in the previous episode.

We chat about the what we have been up to recently, including wargames shows and modelling projects (aerosans, tachanka, bears…). I also interviewed Alessio Cavatore and asked him about Tank Wars, VFTs, errata and chatted about his new Loka Tarot game.

This episode is the first half of a flippin long recording. 8b will cover the Welsh Open Tournament and conclude the Quizzy Question.

We review the Russian army book, covering the national rules, theatre selectors and individual unit choices. Rich talks about the types of lists he has played and highlights some of the more obscure options. Dave explains why he thinks this is the most flexible and varied of the army books. Sam reveals what goes on behind closed doors with a T-26…

Sam and Dave talk to Rich about how he organised the Bolt Action tournament for the Ribble Rumble in Preston. We discussed rules, scenarios, alternate objectives and general logistical stuff. We also chatted about our lists and asked Rich what advice he would give to an aspiring TO.

We run through our top five tanks of WWII and explain the reasons for inclusion in our lists. Rich H joins us, but Dave was at a tournament. We also chat about current hobby projects and our experience at the Germany 1945 Campaign Day.

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We cover the LRDG, SAS and PPA in history and in themed list-building for the British. The fantastic MarkDawg joined us from sunny Seattle, WA and we also found time for a bit of listener feedback. Long show…

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We talk about what we’ve been up to (panzerwerfers, Popski’s Private Army and Soviet partisans) and chat about some games we’ve played recently. Also, we discuss alternative rules for off-board artillery (available to download from our site).

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We run through a list of this year’s UK tournaments and compare their approaches regarding format. Barry and Dave advise me on how to assemble a realistic unit within a historical division (US 29th Infantry, in this case). Finally, we mull over the ‘new’ warplanes rules available for download from the Warlord Games website.

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We talk about the appeal of playing ‘alternative’ armies and speculate on the merits of some recent additions to the army books (Finnish and Romanians in particular). David and Barry also talked about their love of the LRDG. David joined us through a wobbly Skype/mic connection that is to be addressed in future episodes…

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Well, the first offering from Down Order is here; a short solo show with discussion (can you have a solo discussion?) of ideas for historical partisan encounters in games of Bolt Action and a review of the Russian film ‘Come and See’.

Please leave feedback, either through Facebook or Twitter (@downorder).